The present invention relates to the field of interactive manipulation of stored data, and in particular, to the real-time analysis and display of data stored in a multi-dimensional data model.
Multi-dimensional data models are used to represent data in a way that accurately reflects the interaction of the different components of that data. For example, a company's sales figures may include information on sales by year, by region (which can be further broken down into districts and salespersons), or by product (which can also be further broken down into sales by models or sales by factories which produce the products). The sales information can also include additional relevant data such as commissions, purchasers, budgets, projected expenses, and actual expenses.
A multi-dimensional data model allows different users, each of whom may have a need for different kinds of data, to use the same data model in different ways. For example, one user may need to examine the sales and commissions of each salesman, while a different user may need to know the sales for each product and by each salesman. A third user may want to analyze the sales per region, as well as the sales per district in the region. Without a multi-dimensional data model, different data bases would have to be created and maintained for each user who wanted to examine the data in different ways. With a multi-dimensional data model, however, a single data base can support the different users. Thus different data bases do not need to be written, and a single data base is all that needs to be updated.
In addition, a multi-dimensional data model promotes growth because it has a certain inherent flexibility. For example, one does not need to predict all the uses of the data model at the outset because the multi-dimensional data model allows different uses. In addition, if additional data is deemed to be important, that data can be added to the multi-dimensional data model by adding another dimension.
An example of a multi-dimensional data model is manufactured by Comshare, Inc., the assignee of the this application. One of its products, the COMMANDER EXECUTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEM, employs a multi-dimensional data model which displays user-selected two-dimensional views. FIGS. 1-3 shows different two-dimensional views of a sample multi-dimensional data model.
Other examples of multi-dimensional data models can be found in Rockart J. F, "The CEO Goes Online," Harvard Business Review, 1981 and in Rockart & DeLong, "Executive Support Systems," published by Dow Jones-Irwin, 1988. A two-dimensional view of a multi-dimensional data model, however, should not be confused with standard two-dimensional data representations such as are provided by standard spreadsheets. The data model for such spreadsheets is still two-dimensional and does not allow a user to select a view of a common data model, nor does it provide the flexibility of a multi-dimensional data model.
It would be advantageous to allow a user of a multi-dimensional data model to perform certain on-line calculations of the data in the model.
It would additionally be advantageous to have the on-line calculations displayed and treated as if they were part of the multi-dimensional data model itself in order to enhance the analysis of the data in the model.
It would also be advantageous to display the calculated values in a manner which differentiated them from the values in the data base in order to avoid confusion from use.
It would also be advantageous to have a simple and user-friendly interface which allowed non-technical users to perform the on-line calculations.
Additional advantages of the present invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will be obvious from that description or may be learned by practice of the invention. The advantages of this invention may be realized and obtained by the methods and apparatus particularly pointed out in the appended claims.